Residential construction in Gwinnett County rebounded somewhat in 2010 as first-time homebuyers took advantage of a federal tax credit.
But a new report shows the number of residential building permits issued last year was just a fraction of the county’s pre-recession heyday. And a Gwinnett economist said there’s no chance the county will return to pre-recession construction levels anytime soon.
“We used to have months where we issued more single-family permits than we did all last year,” said Alfie Meek, director of the county’s economic analysis division.
Gwinnett issued 778 building permits for 1,098 housing units last year, according to the county’s 2010 Development Activity Report. Most of those units (697) were single-family homes. Others were for multifamily units (395) or mobile homes (six).
The 1,098 permitted residential units was up from 554 in 2009. But it was far off the pace set in previous years.
Gwinnett issued permits for 11,203 residential units in 2000. It issued permits for 7,793 residential units as recently as 2006. But the number of residential units permitted fell sharply beginning in 2007 and hit bottom in 2009.
Meek attributed last year’s growth to a federal first-time homebuyer tax credit that prompted “a little flurry of new homebuilding” in the first half of the year. “Once that expired, permits dropped off and have remained low,” he said.
The new report indicates nonresidential construction -- commercial, industrial and institutional -- continued to decline in 2010. Gwinnett issued just 48 nonresidential building permits last year, down from 102 in 2009 and 316 in 2006.
“With respect to commercial property, with vacancy rates as high as they are and commercial foreclosures still on the rise, I don’t see any new significant construction activity on the horizon in that sector, either,” Meek said.
Construction has played a significant role in Gwinnett’s economy. Meek said the construction industry once employed more than 24,700 people, accounting for 8 percent of all private employment in the county. By the second quarter of 2010 construction employment had fallen to less than 16,000.
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